


My Heart Beets For You

by itskatbug



Category: Produce 101 (TV), X1 (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Office, Attempt at Humor, Bad Flirting, Bad Puns, Feelings Realization, Fluff, M/M, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-21
Updated: 2019-09-21
Packaged: 2020-10-25 15:07:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20726201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itskatbug/pseuds/itskatbug
Summary: All Wooseok wanted was to get through his internship and get his damn degree. That plan did not and should not include horrible puns about food.But, as luck would have it, Cho Seungyoun was also an intern struggling to receive credit, and Cho Seungyoun loved horrible puns about food.





	My Heart Beets For You

**Author's Note:**

> this is such a dumb idea, but i had a lot of fun writing it. the story is set in america simply because it made more sense, and the puns are all in english.
> 
> i'm sorry for all of the horrible puns that you're about to read. i hope you enjoy it!

When Wooseok first landed the position as a lowly office intern, he assumed that it would be a breeze. All he needed to do was retrieve coffee for the employees who were actually paid, sort through paperwork, and reply to emails. Really, he just had to do any work that nobody else wanted to do. It also helped that the hours he worked were counted toward the total hours he needed for his credits, which meant less time spent sitting in a classroom listening to a professor drone on and on. It gave him hands-on experience too, which would look great on a résumé when he started applying for jobs after graduation.

Overall, he was pretty excited about it.

Wooseok was also thrilled when he learned that there were actually a few Korean employees already working there. This was especially important to him because, when he first started his internship, his grasp on the English language was sub-par at best.

It had only been a little over a year since he moved to America. The decision to transfer from a university in Seoul to one in New York had been a difficult one, but the opportunity arose, and he felt like it was a once-in-a-lifetime chance. He could barely speak English, but his best friend, Jinhyuk, had actually moved there the year before, and was more than willing to help him out. 

While his vocabulary has greatly improved since he first arrived, he started off his life in the new country with nothing more than a basic understanding of the language. Aside from greetings, “How are you?”, “I’m fine, thank you”, and “where is the bathroom?” were the phrases he used most frequently.

Originally, he had adapted the ‘smile and nod when you don’t understand’ method. It worked well enough at first, but eventually people caught on and started pestering him about his responses. They would try to explain things to him (which made him feel dumb) or repeat themselves as if he would magically understand (which pissed him off), so in the end, he decided to just not react.

People usually didn’t press on when their audience seemed unimpressed.

So, in short, it was helpful to have other members of the office staff who could speak Korean fluently, or at least knew enough to answer any questions he had. The floor manager, Han Seungwoo, had become his saving grace, but there were a few other employees who went out of their way to speak to him in the language he was most comfortable with. People like Kim Yohan and Lee Hangyul, two younger interns who actually worked on the floor below him. They didn’t meet often, but they always went out of their way to spark up a friendly conversation when they met in the elevator.

But there was also Cho Seungyoun, who either lived in America long enough to forget his native tongue, or found joy in mocking Wooseok’s struggles with learning a new language. Those were the only two options he could come up with, because his fellow intern simply _refused_ to speak to him in anything but English.

* * *

Wooseok and Seungyoun were given lunch breaks at the same time, often at a different hour than the rest of the office. The pair would meet in the break room every afternoon, and as the only interns on their floor, they often found themselves alone together.

For the most part, that wouldn’t have bothered him, but Cho Seungyoun was a man who wanted to watch the world burn. He couldn’t just leave it at that.

As a creature of habit, the first seat that he had taken on his very first lunch break had been mentally claimed as ‘_Wooseok’s seat_’. When there were just two tables in the tiny room, it was important that he establish this to the only other person around. Luckily, there was no verbal communication required, because when Wooseok sat in _his_ seat the next day, Seungyoun returned to the other table and claimed his own.

They respected the seating arrangement and ate their lunch on their own while still being in the room together. It might have seemed strange to anyone who slipped into the room for a cup of coffee (Seungwoo once said that it looked like they were a couple giving each other the silent treatment), but that’s just how it was.

And Wooseok appreciated that.

That is, he appreciated it until the puns came along.

It had started off so simply that it could almost be brushed off as an accident. He was enjoying a wonderfully bland microwavable meal while his acquaintance peeled his hard-boiled eggs from one table over. It was a perfectly normal lunch break between the two of them, sitting in silence and pretending the other didn’t exist, but then Seungyoun uttered the fateful words that ruined everything.

“Boy, these sure look _eggs-cellent_!”

At first, he wasn’t sure if he’d heard correctly. Maybe it was a Freudian slip on Seungyoun’s part. Perhaps his own sleep-deprived mind was fucking with him. Or maybe his English just wasn’t good enough to understand what he was actually saying. There was just no way the other had stepped all over their unspoken pact to stay quiet just to make a stupid joke.

Those hopeful theories were immediately shattered when the room filled with the most amused laughter a human could muster.

When he chanced a glance at his fellow intern, he was slapped in the face by the pure joy of Seungyoun’s expression. His eyes had nearly disappeared with the sheer force of his smile, his cute bunny-teeth on display as he laughed an open-mouthed chortle.

All Wooseok could do was stare in shock.

Shock at the horrible joke, of course; not at how good the man looked when he was laughing.

If Seungyoun had been expecting a positive reaction, he was sorely mistaken. Instead, he received a blank expression and a few very uninterested blinks before Wooseok turned back to his meal. If he refused to acknowledge it, then it would go away. That was how these things always worked.

And for the rest of the lunch, that’s exactly how it went. The pair fell silent once more and finished their meals before returning to their respective work.

But the world was conspiring against him, so it obviously didn’t end there.

* * *

Two miserable months had passed since the first pun, and every time the pair met in the office break room, Wooseok was faced with another play on words.

(On the second day, the other had come in with a bowl of soup from home, heated up in the gross communal microwave. After blowing away the steam and tasting a spoonful, Seungyoun had put on a grin and exclaimed, “today is a _soup-er_ day, don’t you agree?”

Wooseok did not agree.)

The first handful of jokes were harmless, spoken into the otherwise quiet room and promptly ignored by the other party. There was no weight to them, easy to brush off and overcome, but they had progressively gotten worse.

Worse and borderline flirtatious.

What seemed like your average, run-of-the-mill puns had turned into lines one would use to chat someone up. It was appalling, to put things simply. He’d never been a fan of regular pickup lines (if one more person asked him if he fell from heaven, he’d end up going to hell for killing them), and the addition of puns only made him hate them more.

Now, that wasn’t to say that Wooseok thought he was being hit on by his coworker. In fact, he vehemently denied that these puns were anything more than just bad jokes. There was no way that Seungyoun seriously believed that he was the “_apple_ of his eye”.

He just wanted a reaction. He wanted to see something more than a disheartened gaze. And it seemed like he would keep pushing until he got one.

* * *

“I think we would make a good _pear_!”

Their eyes connected just in time to watch Seungyoun take a hearty bite out of the fruit. He let out a content hum as he chomped, juice dripping down to his chin and eyes forming unnecessarily charming crescents. After yesterday’s utter failure—“you stole a _pizza_ my heart,” he had laughed with a mouthful of cheese and sauce—, Wooseok hoped that his coworker would take pity on him and give them both a day to recover.

Clearly, that wasn’t the case.

Rather than giving him a verbal reply, Wooseok simply quirked an eyebrow at the other, challenging him to try and push any further. This was a face that, according to his friends, made him seem like a stuck-up bitch. At least, that’s the look he was going for. It usually stopped people in their tracks, but Cho Seungyoun was not your average person.

“We’d be _pearfect_ together,” the man tried again, clearly undeterred by _the look_. He lifted his empty hand, fingers picking at the skin of the fruit and pulling it apart. He waved the freed piece of skin in the air before popping it into his mouth, “you’re really _appeeling_.”

For a moment, the two did nothing more than exchange silent eye-contact, one looking utterly put out and the other far too amused with himself. The tension was much thicker than a dumb joke warranted, like they were both expecting the other person to say something more. 

But what could Wooseok possibly say to that? Something told him that “thanks, but I know you’re just trying to get a rouse out of me” wasn’t the proper response. He also couldn’t just accuse the other of mocking him, because he wasn’t actually positive that he truly was. So instead he just furrowed his eyebrows, giving the fruit’s core a lazy once-over before shrugging a shoulder and returning to his food.

That must not have been the reaction Seungyoun wanted. The man let out an exasperated sigh in defeat before moving to toss out the leftovers of his lunch. He paused by the door, as if he had something else to say, but must have decided against it.

Wooseok watched him leave, mentally running through today’s puns again. In any other instance, he would be sure that they were obnoxious pickup lines—a sad attempt at flirting. But he knew damn well there was no way that could be the case.

There was just no way that Seungyoun was actually flirting with him.

* * *

“He’s totally flirting with you,” Jinhyuk unhelpfully offered from his side of the couch, eyes never leaving the television. He couldn’t be bothered enough to lend his full attention to his roommate, finding the cooking channel to be much more interesting. There was a good reason why Wooseok avoided going to him with his problems.

Extending his leg far enough to deliver a kick to his friend’s thigh, the troubled man groaned, “I already told you, he’s not! They’re just stupid jokes. He’s obviously trying to get under my skin.”

“Or get in your pants,” he didn’t have to look over to know that Jinhyuk was holding in laughter, a smirk evident in his voice. The big oaf was useless; he might as well pack his bags and ask Seungwoo if he could move in with him instead. At least the older man would look away from the television in a time of need.

Not even bothering to grace that with a response, Wooseok just buried himself in a blanket and watched the show’s host wrap freshly cooked meat in a piece of lettuce. The last thing he wanted was to look at more food. It only made him think of the puns, which brought him right back to his problem.

A voice that sounded a hell of a lot like Seungyoun echoed in his head: ‘_lettuce_ get to the bottom of this’. 

God, now he was doing it…

He briefly tried to distract himself by calculating just how expensive it would be to leave the office every day to grab lunch somewhere else, but the answer was ‘too expensive for an unpaid intern’.

Jinhyuk eventually picked up on the fact that he wasn’t getting a reply, finally turning down the volume and sparing his best friend a glance. “I don’t see what the problem is. Puns are funny!” When all he received was a glare, the taller man shook his head in exasperation, “Only you could be annoyed by a cute guy flirting with you. It’s unreal.”

“Maybe I wouldn’t be so annoyed if that’s what he was doing, but he’s not! He’s—,” Wooseok threw his hands in the air, waving them around as he searched for the right words, “he’s mocking me! He’s making fun of me and my English! He thinks it’s funny to piss me off!”

The other snorted, giving up and returning to his show, “That’s because it _is_ funny to piss you off.” He was given another kick for being a smartass, although it didn’t seem to hurt. “But I really do think he’s trying to hit on you. It’s a shame he picked the densest person in the world, though.”

It was Wooseok’s turn to snort, a breathy noise of disbelief escaping him, “It’s called being reasonable! We’ve never even talked outside of lunch. Why would he flirt with someone he hardly knows?”

“To get to know you better,” Jinhyuk answered like it was completely obvious. “That’s what people do: they flirt when they find someone attractive. God knows why he’s interested in you, but he is. You should take advantage of it before he comes to his senses.”

If he had enough confidence in his leg strength and his roommate wasn’t a giant, Wooseok would have used another kick to shove him off the couch. But because he couldn’t, he settled for letting out a whine that sounded very similar to a dying cat. Burying himself further in his blanket, he tried to drown out Jinhyuk’s laughter and focus on something more important, like the fact that he’d need to confront his problem eventually.

* * *

To say that Wooseok wasn’t prepared for his lunch break would be an understatement.

Since his little chat with his roommate the night before, he’d been dwelling on that small chance that maybe Seungyoun _was_ being slightly flirtatious. The thought brought out a twist in his stomach, unsure of how to feel about it.

He could admit that the guy was attractive, what with his pretty features and blinding smile. His body proportions were impressive too, and reminded Wooseok of a model—the type of model that wore ugly-ass couture fashion to put focus on his looks. Seungyoun was also a shockingly pleasant person once he looked passed all the jokes. People in the office gravitated toward him, chuckling along with his goofy laugh and eating up his ridiculous stories. As much as he hated to admit it, the man was exactly his type. All things considered, he could have caught the attention of someone much, much worse.

That is, if he had even caught Seungyoun’s attention in the first place.

Before he could dig himself any further into that possibility, Wooseok was pulled back to reality by a hand waving in front of his face. Flinching back in his seat, he turned to frown at the culprit, hoping they wouldn’t notice any coloring in his cheeks.

“You’re gonna work through your lunch,” he should have known that Seungwoo was the only person in the office who would dare to ignore personal boundaries. He wore an unfamiliar look of concern, laying a hand on the younger’s shoulder in an act of comfort. “Is something wrong? You’ve been spacing out all day.”

His gaze darted over to the clock on the wall, frowning when he noticed that he’d already wasted ten minutes of his break at his desk. Part of him wondered if that would be the worst thing in the world, but he was no coward. He refused to hurt his own pride by avoiding the break room and, by extension, Cho Seungyoun. 

“Everything’s fine,” Wooseok promised, offering his friend a smile as he pushed away from his desk. “I’m just having an off day, hyung.”

If Seungwoo noticed the higher pitch of his voice, he was nice enough to ignore it. Instead, he gave the other a quick once-over before replacing his concern with a shit-eating grin. “Good! Then you better get going,” the hand on his shoulder gave a tight squeeze, “wouldn’t want your lunch partner to eat all alone today, would you?”

“My lunch partner?”

He didn’t think it was possible for the older to look any more smug, but he somehow managed to pull it off, “Yeah, Seungyoun! The poor guy probably doesn’t know what to do when he’s left by himself.” Seungwoo gave him a shove toward the break room the moment he was on his feet, “He looks forward to your lunches together, you know. You shouldn’t leave him hanging.”

By the time those words could register, the older employee had already taken off, giggling like a maniac as he navigated the way to his own cubicle. For a second, Wooseok humored the thought of chasing after him and interrogating him about what exactly he meant by that, but he’d already lost so much time. If he didn’t head over now, there wouldn’t be enough time for him to eat.

Reluctantly, he let his friend run off before taking a breath and preparing himself for another fifteen of stress and jokes.

* * *

“Hey, you’re late today,” Seungyoun greeted him the moment he stepped into the room. It wasn’t common for them to actually greet each other (he can’t remember ever doing it before), so maybe he really was lost without someone to keep him company. His smile melted away the second he noticed Wooseok’s frown, eyebrows furrowing with worry, “Is everything alright?”

There was a stirring in his gut, maybe nerves or guilt, that made him want to run out of the room as quickly as possible. This guy was just too nice. How was he supposed to confront him about his puns when he looked so concerned? It would be like kicking a puppy, or something equally as heart-wrenching and horrifying.

Settling into his seat, Wooseok pulled out the leftovers he’d brought from last night’s dinner. If there was anything good about living with Jinhyuk, it was that his stomach was too big, and he always ordered too much takeout. Today was a cold pasta salad that was entirely too western for his taste, but it heavily outweighed any microwavable alternative. He popped open the container’s lid, poking at it with the plastic cutlery he had packed with it.

“Yeah, uh,” even to his own ears, his voice sounded strained, like he was exhausted enough to pass out on the spot, “guess I just have a lot on my mind today.”

Seungyoun let out a bright hum, almost as if he were excited to hear that. Or maybe he was just shocked that Wooseok had said more than two words to him. If he hadn’t been so wrapped up in his problems, he probably would have just given a grunt and a lazy shrug, but the other caught him off-guard today. When he lifted his gaze from his meal, he was met with the other man practically leaning over his table to get a better look at him.

No. It was to get a better look at his food.

He sucked in a deep breath, his grip tightening to the point that he swore he could hear his plastic fork crack. A wicked grin took over Seungyoun’s face, and it might have been beautiful if he didn’t ruin it only a second later.

“_Penne_ for your thoughts?”

All the stress that had been building in him since that very first pun finally came to a boil. Wooseok shot out of his seat, nearly tossing his pasta off the table with the sheer ferocity of his movements. “That’s it!” He barely registered that he caused the other to jump out of his seat, “That’s my problem!”

Seungyoun’s eyes were as wide as saucers, his adam’s apple bobbing in his throat when he swallowed thickly. It was clear that he’d never expected the generally quiet intern to have such an outburst. If he were being honest, Wooseok hadn’t been expecting it either, but now that he had started, there was nothing that would get him to reign it back in. 

“_You_,” he stabbed his fork in the direction of the culprit, “and your stupid jokes! All these damn food puns! They’re driving me insane! You need to stop!” He hated that his accent was so strong when he spoke English. It made his words sound a lot less menacing.

Those owlish eyes blinked at him a few times. Aside from the heavy breathing coming from Wooseok and the shitty air conditioning system, the room was silent. Just as it should have always been.

That was once again broken by a loud cackle. The look of shock on Seungyoun’s face was quickly replaced with one of unadulterated amusement. This was clearly the moment he had been waiting for. He had spent months trying to drive Wooseok to the edge, waiting for him to finally give up and actually show some kind of a reaction, and it finally happened.

But it didn’t stop there. Seungyoun refused to make it easy on him.

“Do you wanna _taco_ ‘bout it?”

If Wooseok had lunged across the room and put his coworker in a chokehold, nobody would have been allowed to blame him. It was deserved at this point, after suffering through those damn puns for so long. But he couldn’t do that, because he couldn’t afford to lose his internship and all of the hours he had racked up so far.

“If my college credits weren’t at stake right now, you would be a dead man,” he spoke through gritted teeth, digging his heels into the dirty linoleum flooring to stop himself from doing anything rash.

Seungyoun must have had a death wish, because he continued, “At _steak_? You mean, like the meat?”

The room fell into an uncomfortable silence. They stared each other down—one with fury in his gaze and the other filled with glee. The quiet broke with the sound of plastic snapping, startling them both as they looked to the now broken fork in Wooseok's hand.

He swore he felt his eye twitch, but he didn't have the mental capacity to question it. Trying to avoid making an even bigger scene, he took a handful of slow, deep breaths. Once his rage had simmered a little, he frowned at the other man.

"Why do you like mocking me?" He didn't have the patience to speak English anymore, so he switched to his native language and hoped that the other understood him. "Do you think it's funny to make fun of me for my English? I know it's not perfect, but I'm trying," he hated how pitiful his voice sounded, but his pride was wounded. Now that he had exploded, he just wanted answers.

Seungyoun blinked at him for a moment in confusion, and Wooseok was ready to give up. If the other wasn't fluent in Korean, then he would just have to leave it at that. But then the man spoke, replying to him in the language without any issues.

"You think I'm making fun of you?" His eyes were wide, and all of his amusement from before was replaced by surprise. "I swear, that's not what I'm doing!"

"Then what _are_ you doing? Because it feels like you're using play on words to tease me, like I won't understand it, or I'll get confused." Feeling defeated, he slid back down into his seat. His arms folded defensively across his chest, as if to shield himself from further embarrassment.

Seungyoun frowned, looking genuinely put-off by that information. When he spoke again, his voice was the quietest that Wooseok had ever heard him, "I was trying to make you laugh."

The answer made Wooseok pause, watching the other carefully from his seat across the room. He swore that he felt his heart drop. "What?"

"I wanted to make you laugh," he sounded more confident now, like he was determined to clear up the misunderstanding. "You laugh a lot with Seungwoo-hyung, and it's really cute. But you're so quiet around me! So I asked him what I should do, and he said to tell jokes. And we always have lunch together, so I thought food puns would make sense."

He should have probably focused on the fact that the situation was technically all Seungwoo's fault, but instead, his mind just unhelpfully repeated the word "cute".

"I'm really sorry! I just thought I hadn't found the right joke yet, or you were playing hard to get. I didn't even think that you were offended by it."

Wooseok had never seen the other intern look so serious before. It made him feel guilty for misjudging him; if he was telling the truth (and it seemed like he really was), then he had completely misunderstood Seungyoun's intentions.

"Wait," he held up a hand to stop the other from continuing on with his apology. "If you were trying to make me laugh, why were all of your jokes so… flirtatious?"

Seungyoun cracked a smile, and Wooseok was surprised to learn that he felt relieved at the sight. He didn't like seeing the other upset.

If Jinhyuk was around, he would be laughing in his face.

"Because I was also flirting with you."

Wooseok dropped the remains of his cutlery to hold his head in his hands. He might have suspected that was the case, especially after talking to his roommate, but to actually hear it from the other was something totally different. And for him to say it so casually, like it wasn't a big deal—his heart began to race.

The thoughts from before, about how he would have felt if Seungyoun had been flirting with him, made a sudden return. Now that he had confirmation, he couldn't exactly be upset about it. Maybe he was a pain in the ass, but the other man was kind, funny, and good-looking. He had everyone in the office wrapped around his finger, and it was dawning on Wooseok that he was included in that.

Even if he wanted to hate the man, he just couldn't find it in himself to feel anything more than a shallow annoyance toward him; an annoyance that he was subconsciously using to mask the fact that he might have had a tiny, little, microscopic crush on Seungyoun.

He dug his palms into his eyes, rubbing at them as if it would take away the rush of emotions that washed over him. The break room may have been the worst possible setting for confrontation _and_ the realization of romantic feelings.

Seungyoun pushed himself away from his table before making his way over to Wooseok's. He took a seat next to him, reaching out to place a gentle hand on his arm. "I'm sorry, I know it was stupid. I just couldn't help myself. I figured, hey, we're both just interns. So if I didn't work out, we'd only have to work together for another few months."

Wooseok held up his head, taking a peek and finding the other staring right at him. He could feel all of the blood rushing to his face at the undivided attention.

"But if it _did_ work out, then I'd walk away with my credits and a cute boyfriend. To me, the pros outweigh the cons," as if to emphasize his point, he held out his hands like an unbalanced scale. "I guess I just didn't consider that you might have been uncomfortable. I honestly thought you were just playing hard to get."

With a sigh, Wooseok straightened his posture to look at the other man properly, "I was only uncomfortable because I thought you were making fun of me." He wrinkled his nose before adding, "Plus, they were really bad jokes."

Seungyoun pulled his hand away, but managed to scoot his chair a little closer. "What?" he easily switched their conversation back to English. He chuckled, pleased with his joke before it even left his mouth, "you don't like my pick-up _limes_?

Wooseok rolled his eyes so hard, he thought he saw the inside of his skull. But now that they had talked it out, and he knew for a fact that it wasn't malicious, he decided to try and play along. He tilted his head, staring the other down with the most serious face he could manage, "You're _bacon_ me crazy, Seungyoun."

The expression that took over Seungyoun's face could only be described as 'a kid who was given a puppy on Christmas morning'. His eyes morphed into happy little crescent moons, pushed by the sheer force of his smile. It was a look of pure joy, and the laughter that left him was the perfect match. Wooseok didn't think he'd ever seen a grown man look so happy before.

Maybe it was the relief that had washed over now that he knew he wasn't being mocked. Or maybe it was because Seungyoun's laugh was genuinely contagious, and it was always hard to hold back a smile around him. Or maybe he just needed to laugh after the last few minutes of stress.

Whatever the cause was, it didn't really matter—Wooseok let himself laugh at a food pun for the first time, giggling along with Seungyoun at his own joke. It was the kind of laughter that started out as a small chuckle, but the longer it lasted, the stronger it grew. By the time he realized that the joke wasn't even funny, his laughter was loud enough to catch the attention of the employees outside the room. He noticed a few pairs of eyes peering in through the window in the door, but whatever they saw wasn't interesting enough to distract them, because they didn't bother to stay and watch.

When his laughter finally died down, wheezing slightly to catch his breath, Wooseok noticed that Seungyoun had ceased his giggling and had just been staring at him for the last minute or so. If he looked hard enough, he swore he could see little sparkles in his eyes, like stars swirling around in the sea of dark brown. Unsure of how to steer the conversation back on track, he decided to just stare back at him.

It took at least a solid thirty seconds before Seungyoun spoke, a peachy blush covering his cheeks and the tips of his ears. "Don't get weirded out, but I might be in love. Your laugh is, like—," he struggled to find the right word, blinking a few times, "magical? Beautiful? Music to my ears?" He let out a dreamy sigh, hesitantly setting his hand next to Wooseok's on the table. His fingers twitched, like they were going to grab onto the other's, but he stopped himself. "I take back my apology; that was absolutely worth all of those shitty puns and the glares you sent me."

Deciding to make the move for him, Wooseok placed his hand in Seungyoun's. He stared down at their hands, using it as an excuse not to make eye-contact and hoping that the other didn't notice the blush on his own face. "You're not in love, but thank you for the compliment. I'll… try to laugh more around you. Cut you some slack."

Seungyoun let out a pleased sound, giving his hand a squeeze, "I might be in love! How would you know? Maybe I _cannoli_ have eyes for you!"

Once again, Wooseok let himself laugh, but it stopped at a short chuckle. Seungyoun's hand was warm, and he wouldn't have minded holding it for a little while longer, but their break was ending. Using the pun as an excuse, he let go with a shake of his head, "Okay, you ruined the moment."

Seungyoun looked disappointed for a few seconds before he realized that the other was cleaning up his lunch. Pushing away from the table, he moved to clean his own spot. "So," he didn't dare to look at Wooseok as he spoke, "would you want to go on a date with me?”

He packed up his container, throwing away the discarded pieces of plastic that used to be a fork. The question made him pause, nerves twisting in his stomach at the question. One date couldn't hurt; it would give him the chance to learn about Seungyoun outside of work. He wouldn't mind getting to know more about him and his penchant for puns. Wooseok moved toward the door, stopping next to the taller man to grin at him, "Honestly, I’m just relieved that you asked me out without using a pun.”

“Actually," Seungyoun rubbed at the back of his neck, almost sheepish. His blush from before had darkened considerably, and the sight was way too endearing. With a nervous chuckle, he shrugged, "a date is a type of fruit. They’re kind of like raisins. So it doubles as a pun."

Wooseok stood there for a few beats, staring the other down with an amused look etched on his face, “You’re lucky you’re cute.” With that, he left the break room, leaving him behind.

His heart was pounding in his chest, excitement buzzing through his veins. He didn't know how he was supposed to focus on working for the rest of the day. All he really wanted to do was go home and tell Jinhyuk about their eventful lunch… and maybe pick out an outfit for their date.

Despite the sound of his heartbeat filling his ears, he could hear Seungyoun scrambling to finish cleaning. He was hurrying to catch up with Wooseok, pushing open the break room door with too much force. Either he didn't notice everyone staring at him, or he didn't care.

“Wait! Is that a yes?”

Wooseok sat back down at his desk, shooting the other an annoyed look when he caught up to him. The last thing he needed was for the whole floor to know that he finally gave in and agreed to a date with the office clown. He muttered, trying to avoid the dozen or so pairs of listening ears in the surrounding cubicles, "It's a yes."

Seungyoun clearly hadn't understood what that look had meant, because the next thing he knew, the other intern was leaning down to press an excited kiss to Wooseok's cheek. Before the man could complain, he jumped up and ran off to his own desk, but not without disrupting everyone by yelling, "We should grab coffee tomorrow, because I like you a _latte_!"

The snickering that traveled around the office was humiliating, but Wooseok couldn't even be mad about it. The butterflies in his chest were too distracting to care that he just agreed to a date with a total idiot.

Well… at least he didn't have to dread going to lunch anymore.

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you liked it! please let me know what you thought!
> 
> if you want, you can find me on twitter @guanwoozi


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